


Roll your R's

by Marble_Ocean



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Brigid Lore, F/F, Happy Birthday Petra Macneary, It's still the 7th somewhere in the world right?, post ts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26365789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marble_Ocean/pseuds/Marble_Ocean
Summary: It's Petra birthday and Dorothea has prepared something she hopes is very special to her. She just has to say it right.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Petra Macneary
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Roll your R's

**Author's Note:**

> It was only supposed to be about 400 words and here we are... many more later. Please enjoy x

Dorothea leans against her door, fingers threading through her own hair. If Manuela was here, she’d chide her for it, saying something about how one shouldn’t fluster so outwardly. Ironic. Dorothea tries to tell herself it’s not a nervous habit, just something she _does_. It’s getting harder to deny it as she waits for Petra to wake up for her morning hunt. 

The clouds are dusted with a lovely pink, the horizon only just starting to break. Dorothea isn’t one to complain about getting up early; years of troupe training had hardened her to rigorous routine. And besides, the morning air is fresh and crisp. She inhales in an attempt to calm her nerves.

All she has to do is recite her lines. She’s done the same thing for the stage hundreds of times before for arguably far more important reasons.

 _Though,_ she supposes, _there’s little more important than Petra right now._

Just as planned and right on cue, Petra exits her room decked out in her usual regalia. 

“Petra!” Dorothea calls immediately and then winces, remembering that everyone is still likely asleep. She drops her voice to a whisper. “ _Good morning_!”

“Dorothea?” Petra smiles, pleasantly surprised. “It is not like you to be up so early like me. What is the reasoning?”

Dorothea returns the smile, her heart fluttering at the gorgeous way Petra’s dark brows furrow. Goddess, she’s a looker. 

“Well, you know I know what day it is, despite you being needlessly hush hush about it.” 

Petra shrugs her shoulders, arms going out to the sides, yet she still holds that charming grin. “My day of birth is not so important. I was not wishing to make a, um, large deal.”

“Birthdays are important and especially if it’s _yours._ ” Dorothea tuts. Her tone is teasing, words drawn out, but she is completely serious. 

Petra narrows her eyes playfully. “I must be admitting, I am excited to see you up so early, if it is for my sake.” 

“Everything is for your sake today, Petra, you will be suitably pampered. Let me start by wishing you a happy birthday.” 

“Thank you, Dorothea.” Petra nods her head and her genuine- and completely effortless-- charm dazzles her.

“N-no wait.” Curses, she’s already flubbed her lines. “Well, I mean, yes happy birthday, but um… Actually, can we talk somewhere a little more private?”

Petra raises a brow and purses her lips, looking around. “There is no one to be seeing us here, but as you are wishing. You have piqued my curiosity, Dorothea.”

She opens the doors to her quarters and gestures for Dorothea to step in before her. As Dorothea enters, two things hit her. First, the gentle earthy scents that drape Petra’s room. It’s a familiar, comforting series of smells. Second, all that she had prepared for this moment doesn’t feel like enough.

Petra’s hand slides over her shoulder as she passes Dorothea to stand opposite her, one hand perched on her hip casually.

“Is this more acceptable for our conversation?”

“Yes.” Dorothea takes in Petra’s room some more, partially to distract herself from her intense tawny gaze and partially because it’s so _Petra_. Furs, unique jewelry, books stacked high and studies left open for later. Something she vaguely recognises catches her eye. “What are those oils for?”

“Hm?” Petra’s concentration seems to break, she blinks before picking it back up again. “Oh, yes. They are for my hair, from Edelgard. Our hair is very different, so the treatment is not as effective, but I am out of the oils from home. I am grateful to Edelgard for the offering.”

“Ah, we used those in Mittelfrank, I thought I had seen them before. That’s so like our Edie.” Dorothea is aware that she can’t keep up the distractions for too long, but tries in earnest anyway. “Your hair is so beautiful, I hope you don’t mind me being just a bit envious.”

“You are being silly.” Petra shakes her head. “Your hair is just as beautiful. And your eyes, very pretty also.” 

Dorothea feels the heat rise to her cheeks. Goddess, she hasn’t felt this dumbly lovestruck in years. Her blush must look as obvious as it feels when Petra regards her with a little concern. “Are you alright?” She moves closer and places her hand back on Dorothea’s shoulder, rubbing it soothingly. “You are looking heated.”

At the genuine concern and care in her eyes, any tension Dorothea held evaporates. She shouldn’t worry about her gift being enough. Petra deserves the world, but her kindness is endless and her gratitude bountiful. As she had once said, the thinking is enough for her.

Dorothea centers herself and closes her eyes. This isn’t a grand performance, she reminds herself, but she can still prepare herself as if it is. She meets Petra’s eyes, feeling sparks fizzle and pop in her chest.

“ _Howbyl gendrios kynn raeth.”_ She says as confidently as she can manage.

Petra’s eyes widen marginally.

“ _H-howbyl gendrios kynn reath…?_ ” She repeats, stunned and with a far more lilting cadence.

Her face is priceless and Dorothea feels like preening from satisfaction.

“It’s not _my_ birthday, Petra.” She teases, gently punching her arm. When Petra doesn’t respond much to the gesture, she feels the nervousness settle in her stomach again. “I hope I said it right.”

Petra’s face blooms into a smile that would put the most well-trained actresses to shame. Dorothea should know, she is one. “Dorothea, you have been learning my language to tell me happy birthday?” She pulls Dorothea into a fierce hug, and the songstress nearly loses her footing. “That brings me much joy, I was worried you had attempted to cook!”

“Hey!” Dorothea laughs, Petra joining her. 

The sound of their laughter brings Dorothea back to their academy days, where they traded stories of foppish nobles and found places to find humour in the grimness of it all. Dorothea had no other friend like her, and wanted no other friend like her. 

She buries her face in Petra’s neck, just dabbling in the small, selfish act of wanting her before pulling back.

“I am sorry, I should not be making jokes like that.” Petra wipes her eyes and then plants her hands on Dorothea’s shoulders. “You have truly brought me much happiness. You were saying it mostly right, if I may correct you. You should be saying ‘ _howbyl_ ’ at the end of the sentence. In Brigid, we are putting the adjectives last.”

Dorothea internally berates herself for missing that part in her research, but she’s happy to be corrected by one handsome princess. 

“I shall keep that in mind, _Tiar Fanwyn_.” She winks.

Petra’s gasp is immediately gratifying. As is the reddened tint to her cheeks. “Dorothea!” She giggles. “Calling me Your Highness like that. As always, you make me blush.”

“I always make you blush, huh?” Dorothea presses herself closer, intending to tease but in truth, she is testing the waters of their casual closeness. 

“Indeed.” Petra snakes her arms around her neck, apparently open to swimming in said waters. It mildly surprises Dorothea, but she doesn’t want to pull away any time soon. “How were you learning? There are no books in the library.”

“Well, I couldn’t ask you, that would have ruined the surprise. But a woman like me has her connections, I simply employed them with the weight of the Black Eagle Strike Force behind me.” Petra tilts her head questioningly. Dorothea elaborates. “I sent a letter to Duke Gerth and asked him to provide me with a dictionary. It turns out my name as a General can pluck just as many strings as my name as a star.”

“You are a star.” Petra leans up to place a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you, Dorothea. It is meaning a great deal that you would take the time for me.”

She lingers in a way that Dorothea _knows_ means more than a friendly peck on the cheek. Her heart stammers at the implication, at the way Petra’s breath tickles her skin. She’s tempted to lean in and chase that desire, but not before one more detail.

“You’re welcome, but it’s not over yet.”

Petra, whom Dorothea only just noticed was on her tiptoes, returns to her height and beams up at her. “I cannot imagine anything more heart-filling than what you have already given me!”

Dorothea taps her nose mischievously. “How does a day off sound? And before you laugh, I spoke with Edie. No meetings, no missions. You have the day entirely to yourself.”

“I do?” Petra visibly chews the inside of her cheek. “I cannot be remembering the last time I had such a privilege. Are you sure Edelgard was approving of this? Or Hubert?”

Dorothea puffs. “Forget Hubert, I went straight to the top with this. You have our Emperor Edie’s leave to relax.” Petra still looks unsure, conflicted even. Dorothea hugs _her_ this time, arms wrapped around her waist. “Oh sweetheart, you don’t get time for yourself nearly enough, do you?”

Petra sighs against her. “It is not being up to me.”

Dorothea’s heart cracks a little but she doesn’t dwell on it. She lowers her arms, tightens her grip around Petra and picks her up, twirling the two of them around. “Dorothea!” Petra yelps, but succumbs to laughter when Dorothea ‘ _whoops!_ ’ with glee.

She sets her back down, panting from the sudden exertion. She’s certainly not the strongest of the Strike Force, but she’s not weak by any standard.

“It _is_ up to you today. Until the evening that is, where I’m supposed to take you to the Dining Hall.”

“What for?” Petra tucks her plum hair behind her ear, excitement sparkling in her eyes.

“I can’t tell you.” Dorothea tuts haughtily, it’s her best Manuela impression yet. Then she winks at the princess. “You’ll have to trust me.”

“More than anyone else. I would be trusting you with my life, all of it.”

“Your whole life?” Dorothea hides her smile behind her hand. The way Petra speaks is so cute sometimes, she thinks.

“Yes.” Petra says with a firm nod. “My heart. My spirit. Everything.”

That cannot possibly be ignored. Dorothea knows this. But the all-too bitter part of her heart tells her that Petra is just… being playfully intense! She surely doesn’t mean it. After all, who would want to trust Dorothea with their heart?

She keeps her expression carefully demure. “Oh, you, saying all of these things. You’re a real heartthrob.” She continues before Petra can reply, before she herself can think further on Petra’s words. “So, what would you like to do?”

Dorothea sees the cogs turn in that brilliant mind of hers, she loves the way her lips pucker when she thinks. Then she looks at Dorothea and gestures to the bed-- Dorothea nearly has a heart attack at where her mind races to-- and says, “Please, be taking a seat. I would be greatly honoured to tell you about days of birth in Brigid.”

“The honour is mine, Petra dear, all mine.” Dorothea takes her seat on the bed, Petra next to her, cross-legged and eager.

“In Brigid, we have our ‘ _gendrios kynn raeth’_ as you were saying but we also have a second day were we celebrate a new kind of birth.”

Dorothea is intrigued right away, she swings her legs up onto the bed and gets more comfortable to listen. “Does that mean gifts two times a year?” 

“No.” Petra shakes her head with an amused grin. “We do not give gifts. We do celebrate in a particular way but it is particular to the different tribes on the isles. I will tell you more of that later, however.

Our second day of birth comes when we are having an… ah…” She’s clearly looking for a Fodlan word. Dorothea waits patiently, mindful of how frustrating it must be to struggle speaking a language despite being so well-versed in writing it. “The Brigid word is _Roktall_. But I cannot think of the right word in your language.”

“Describe it to me, maybe I can help.”

Petra splays her hands across the furs on her bed, its softness rising between her fingers.. Petra likes to focus on one object as she thinks, Dorothea notices. “Are you remembering the time when we were secretly poking the fun out of a noble who was claiming he was experiencing communion with the Goddess but in reality his pants were down?”

Dorothea barks out a laugh and places her hand on her puffed-out chest. “The Goddess Sothis speaks to me! I can feel it in the wind!” She harrumphs, chin raised before she slips back into giggling again. 

Petra nearly rolls onto her back in laughter. “Yes! That is the one! He truly believed he was speaking with his Goddess and I am thinking that if someone did not point it out, he might have continued to believe it.”

“The look on his face was priceless.” Dorothea wipes a tear from her eye and sighs. “The sheer arrogance of those noblemen, hmph. Hey, maybe if Sothis does have a plan for everyone and She meant for that to happen, perhaps She’s not as bad as I thought.” 

“Perhaps She has some humour, yes.” Petra muses, recovering and once again paying attention to the furs. Fox, Dorothea notices, the sunset hues suit Petra. “But anyway, he believed he was being spoken to the Goddess. I do not know if she is capable of doing that but in Brigid, the Spirits may choose to grace you with their presence. That is when _Roktall_ is happening.”

“Wow.” Dorothea says, though she has to put just a tiny amount of effort into it. Not that she ever wants to doubt Petra, but given the very lacking presence of Sothis herself, how could she know Brigid’s deities are any more or less absent? “When does it happen?”

“At any time. Sometimes in prayer, sometimes when simply walking.” Petra shrugs. “Some are not experiencing it until they are much older, and others when they are only just speaking. I have always found it a funny tradition, because the Spirits can be speaking to you more than once. It is just the first time they make the choice that is special. Sudden and special, yes. Like a light has been lit behind your eyes, that is how Grandfather was telling it.”

“Hm, then I suppose the closest word you are looking for is ‘epiphany.’” 

“Epiphany.” Petra repeats until she leans her upper body off the bed and starts to rummage around under it. “Ah, here we are going.” She hoists herself back up effortlessly and flips through a book. 

“A dictionary? I could have just told you the meaning, silly.”

“I am liking to look for myself if I can, it makes me feel more learned.” Petra looks up at her from the pages. “Is that making sense to you?”

“I understand. So how does your dictionary define it then, please, Petra, for an A grade.”

Petra chuckles as she flips through the pages and settles on one, her finger running down and tapping when she hits the spot. “A moment of great and sudden realization or revelation!”

“Full marks!” Dorothea claps. “So when is your _R-Rokta-luh?”_

“You must roll your r. Like this.” Dorothea never thought she’d hear Petra make a borderline purring sound and yet here she is. “Be saying it with me. _Rrrrrrrrroktall.”_

 _“Rrrrrrrrrrrr…”_ Dorothea’s not sure if she’s doing it right and her tongue feels fat. “ _Rrrrokta-luh?”_

“You are close enough, I am thinking.” Petra grins. “You are doing well.”

Dorothea sheepishly runs her hands through her hair. “Thank you.” She’s not entirely pleased but if Petra sees fit to praise her then she won’t complain. “So when is yours again?”

Petra looks away, an unexpected forlornness on her features. “I have not had mine yet, the Spirits do not speak in Fodlan.” She places her cheek on her palm and tilts her head to look sideways at Dorothea. Her hair falls to the side, revealing the muscular curvature of her neck. Dorothea would focus her attention on that delightful detail if Petra was not looking so sad.

“I’m sorry, Petra. Hopefully the war ends sooner rather than later, you can go home.” Dorothea reaches out and places her hand on her knee. “Then you can have your _Roktall.”_

She decides that perhaps she can actually find it in herself to believe in fantastical talking Spirits. Especially if someone as fantastic as Petra lives and breathes before her.

“We can be doing more than hoping. We can be working to make the war ending a reality.” Petra’s eyes glaze over with a steely determination. 

“As much as I agree, I’m not hearing any talk about work today.” She scoots closer to Petra and slides her hand under her chin. “Today is about you getting some of the relaxation you deserve. I know I said you can do what you want, but I’m afraid the line is drawn at any sort of training or studying.”

Petra lets some of her weight rest on Dorothea’s hand as she looks up at her. “Relaxation would be beneficial.” She concedes somewhat dazedly. 

_Goddess above…_ Dorothea thinks. _I have a gorgeous woman in the palm of my hand._

“Wouldn’t it just? Now, how can I help make this day better for you?” 

Petra hums idly. “Just be staying with me, please.”

“Are you sure?” Dorothea asks, trying and failing to hide her shock. “You can do anything. Go fishing. Sleep. Gorge yourself on food.”

Petra smiles like the sun and it sears into Dorothea’s soul.

“You are enough of a gift for me, Dorothea. Just stay, if you are wanting, of course.”

“Petra… I’m not sure there’s anything I’d love to do more.” She leans in and gives Petra a very chaste kiss on her cheek. When she pulls back, they’re both red. “So… what’s the best technique for rolling your r’s?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Look who is posting! It's me haha. I haven't updated anything in a while, partially because mild burnout and the woes of being a gay socialist-leaning 24 year-old in the tory party-infested uk haha. But more importantly I'm going to be part of the [Doropetra Zine!!](https://twitter.com/DoropetraZine) It's been an absolute blast writing for it and I've been working alongside so many other fantastic writers and artists. Please check it out, pre-orders are opening soon! 
> 
> As usual, kudos and comments are dearly beloved. I've got one more surprise zine coming up soon but until that's done, expect something for Dorothea's birthday too! Stay safe x


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